Abstract
One of the most common causes of stridor in newborns and infants is laryngomalacia (LM). Many of these children have additional symptoms during sleep, like sleep disordered breathing (SDB) or obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). Supraglottoplasty (SGP) is often used as a treatment for severe LM. The aim of this literature review is to evaluate the effect of SGP and the benefit of polysomograhy (PSG) as an objective method for evaluation of SGP outcomes. The databases PubMed, Medline, Embase and Cochrane Library were searched using the keywords ”Laryngomalacia” and ”Polysomnography” and ”Supraglottoplasty” or ”Laryngoplasty”. Inclusion criteria were English language, children under 18 years and articles from year 2000 and newer. Only studies that used PSG and SGP were reviewed. Seven articles and three systematic reviews with meta analysis were found. Collectively they reported improvements of PSG-parameters, and collectively there were statistical significant improvement of OAI, RDI or AHI, OAHI and SpO2 nadir. Six of the articles reported improvement of symptoms like stridor, snoring and sleep quality. The meta analyses demonstrated significant reduction of AHI and increase of SpO2 nadir. The studies demonstrate the benefit of PSG as a way of quantifying the severity of LM and evaluate the effect of surgery. PSG seems beneficial especially for children with LM associated with OSA, as a supplement to the investigations to identify children with symptoms during sleep and for future studies to help classify different types of LM.